


How to Be Together

by thepaperbackgirl



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Marriage Law Challenge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-30
Updated: 2014-10-05
Packaged: 2018-02-19 10:30:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2385095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepaperbackgirl/pseuds/thepaperbackgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU for everything after the Order of the Phoenix. Voldemort has taken over the Ministry and has passed a new law in hopes to bring down all Muggleborns. When the Ministry unexpectedly passes a new marriage law forcing adult Muggleborns to marry an adult Pureblood. What will happen when Voldemort test Severus loyalty and how does this effect Hermione?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Gibbet read over the paperwork in front of him again. It brought a smile to his face because for all his work, it was becoming a reality. He had been working on this piece of legislation for years and when the Dark Lord took over the Ministry, there was finally someone in power that had the best interests of their community in mind and that the guts do what had to be done.

It hadn't been easy to get an audience with the Dark Lord. There was no sharing his plan with the Death Eaters; he couldn't trust that they would get it right. As much as Gibbet wanted this to happen, He it had to happen the correct way. He had put too much work into this to see it fail because some Death Eater rushed it. He needed to be the one to see the Dark Lord, so that he could make sure that everything went as to plan. He knew that the Dark Lord would understand, he would make them listen and stay on track to Gibbet's schedule.

Gibbet was less nervous than he thought he would have been to meet the Dark Lord. He knew that the Dark Lord would like his plan and maybe that made it easier. Gibbet knew that if things didn't go well that the Dark Lord would let him know about his displeasure; that was the only thing that kept Gibbet up at night.

The news would break some time the next day. They had made sure that The Daily Prophet was given a heads up a couple of hours ago by one well place phone call from an "informant". The idiots over there have selling headlines for weeks about leaked secret information. This time it was on Viktor Krum and how he might have accepted a position at Hogwarts to teach the flying classes. Of course, this was true; they were leaking information, not lies. For unknown reasons Dumbledore had been hoping to keep it under wraps until the start of term, but Gibbet needed the deep cover. He had coordinated their leaked releases to when he needed all quiet at the ministry to push votes or in the most extreme cases, deal with and replace opponents. The finalization of was happening in a few hours and then the "Restoration of blood: act 19919", informally called the new marriage act, would be passed.


	2. Chapter one

The light from the window was beaming down on her, sort of, sleeping form. Hermione rolled over and moved a little lower in the bed to see if sleep could still be possible, but that's when she heard a bang from downstairs. It had taken her many trips to the Weasley's before she could sleep easily there. It wasn't that she didn't feel safe or comfortable, it was just because there were so many people there that it was never quiet. She was an only child and her house was silent compared to the Weasley's. It was harder to sleep at home now though. When she was at home, she did miss the banging and squeaking of the Weasley's.  
Hermione heard the door creak open. She didn't have to look to know that Ginny was sneaking back into their bedroom. Ginny and Harry have been sneaking out of their rooms in the early hours of the morning all summer. Hermione wasn't sure if Ron knew about it yet and she wasn't about to tell him. They obviously wanted privacy and she was willing to pretend to be in the dark about it.  
Ginny's bed squeaked as she crawled into it. Not moving to face her, Hermione spoke "Are you up?" Of course, she knew she was, but was going to pretend that she just woke up. "Kind of" Ginny was trying to sound like she just woke up. Hermione could hear her fake yawn; well it could have been a real one. She had no idea how long the other girl had been up or what she had been up to. She had a good idea about how Harry and Ginny spent their stolen hours, but she tried not to think about it too much. She had no desire to think about her best friends making out, it was more than a little gross.  
"Good. Do you think your mum is up and making breakfast? Should we go help her?" Hermione hated that Mrs. Weasley worked so hard to cook for her family plus the occasional Order member and no one ever seemed to help. She rolled over so that she could see Ginny starting to sit up in bed. "Probably and if you insist." Ginny pushed her hair out of her face. She made such a good show of pretending to wake up that Hermione was starting to wonder if she hadn't just imagined that she heard her sneaking about in. They slowly got out of bed and took turns in the bathroom before they made it downstairs.  
It was still pretty early and only Mrs. Weasley stood in the kitchen at the stove and her back to them. Hermione forgot to skip the second to last stair and it groaned under her weight. Mrs. Weasley jumped and tossed the pan she had been holding to the ground in front of them. They were lucky that she hadn't started to cook anything yet, or it would have ended up all over them. "Oh girls, you startled me. I wasn't thinking that anyone would be up this early." Hermione looked over at the clock on the wall and noticed that it wasn't even seven yet. She looked at them with wide eyes, she must have been very deep in thought to have been this scared by them. Mrs. Weasley rarely let herself get caught off guard, raising the twins had to have been rough on her.  
"Jeez! Mum, It's just us." Ginny tried to sound annoyed, but her giggle gave her away. "I'm sorry we scared you so badly." Hermione truly was sorry, she knew she was on edge a lot with the war going on and it had to even worse for Molly. The woman's children and husband were constantly on the front lines beside her. It was no wonder, she wasn't constantly jumping or crying, but Molly had no time for that or so it appeared that way.  
"Can we help you get breakfast made?" Hermione offered as she picked up the pan and walked over to Molly. Molly smiled at the girls as she took the pan back from Hermione. "That would be lovely. Arthur was called to the ministry a little bit ago, so it will be us and the boys." Saying it that way made is sound like a small group, but what she really meant was that it would be the three of them plus Harry, Ron, George, Fred, Percy, Bill, Charlie, and Remus. There had been an Order meeting at the house and they decided to stay the night since it had ran so late.  
They worked quickly together and in short order, there was a giant meal spread out on the table in front of them. There looked to be plenty of eggs, bacon, and biscuits for twenty, but with the way the boys ate there was just enough for all of them. A noise came from the stairs and Hermione looked up to see Remus creeping quietly down. "I always forget about that damn step." He grumbled out at them. He must not have slept well or woke up on the wrong side of the bed. "I did the same this morning" Hermione giggled at him. Hermione enjoyed being around Remus. He was easy for her to talk to. He understood her a little better than most and he was clearly comfortable with her too. "Did you sleep well, Remus?" Molly said a bit concerned. Hermione could see the dark circles under his eyes now and he must not have slept well for a while to have those.  
Before she could think too much about it, the kitchen started to fill up with boys. First, it was the older ones and then lastly Ron and Harry came down together. The group was in the middle of their meal when the fireplace turned green; someone was about to show up for breakfast with them. Molly looked at Remus and he shook his head. Hermione caught this out of the corner of her eye; she put it together quickly. They didn't know who it was. She was Remus raise his wand slightly and Molly did the same. Hermione took her wand out of the band around her arm. Harry had them made for all of them last year. It was a leather band that they could slip their wands into; it made them smaller, so that they were easier to sleep with or carry in the Muggle world since it just looked like a piece of jewelry.  
The person appeared and before they could see who it was, Remus was standing and approaching the fireplace. "It's me! Just me." Arthur called out from the fireplace. He must have known that turning up like this would put them on edge. Everyone, but Remus and Molly, noticeably relaxed when they heard him. Molly took in her husband's appearance "What has happened?" That's when Hermione noticed that he was ruffled head to toe, like he had been running or rushed.  
"Molly, it's bad this time"


	3. Chapter two

Everyone seemed to start moving at the same time. Molly to Arthur. Remus to Harry. The Weasley boys seemed to group around Ginny and her. No one really knew what they were doing though. “Maybe, I should send the kids upstairs first, Arthur.” Molly gave the group a weary glance. “You can send up Harry and them, but as full Order members, you can't just send us away.” George spoke up. “As your mother, I can...” Molly was cut off by Arthur “Molly, they need to know about this.”  
Hermione wasn't sure if it was a good thing that Arthur wanted to keep them in the room. On one hand, she thought that it couldn't be that bad because he wouldn't want to expose them to it, but maybe it was so dire that they needed to know right way about it. Maybe someone had died. Maybe the Death Eaters had taken someone. Her mind was racing and felt sick to her stomach. She had eaten a large breakfast and it was turning against at the moment. Hermione looked at Harry and saw the same look of worry on his face.  
Everyone found their way back to the table. When no one bothered to clear what remained of their breakfast away, Molly brought out her wand and with one swipe all the food was gone and the dishes were in the sink. “There is a spell to do that for you!” Ron was more than a little aggravated. “Shush, Ron; There was no time to do all of those dishes.” Molly had no time for her youngest son to play at being insulted. She had made them do the dishes for years because... well, she thought it would do them some good to clean up after themselves. Magic would only take you so far in life and sometimes you just have to use your own hands, but this was not the time or the place for that debate.  
Once everyone was quiet, Arthur started “Well, it seems that there has been some plotting going on at the ministry.” “We knew that He had taken over months ago.” Remus interrupted “yes, we did, but we didn't know how far he had gone.” Arthur continued “It turns out that has had someone drafting legislation for him and last night, they passed some kind of reform.” Hermione was trying to take it all in, but this all sounded like the stuff they knew. “Officially it's titled the Restoration of Blood: act 19919 but they are calling it the new marriage law.” Molly seemed to know what this meant and slowly moved her gaze from her husband to her children in front of her.   
“But what does that even mean?” Fred was the only to break the short silence. “What it means is that every adult Muggleborn has to be married to an adult Pureblood within six months.” Arthur stated plainly. “Well, that means everyone at this table, but Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny need to be married in just six months.” Charlie said as calmly as was possible. “No” Hermione's voice was small. “What do you mean, my dear?” Molly tried to be soothing “I mean that you need to add me to that list.” Hermione said biting her lip “I used that Time-Turner my third year. Technically, I'm older than the twins.”  
“Maybe, but we are still wiser...” “well not wiser, but we have more street smarts than you.” The twins were obviously trying to lighten the mood, but one look from their mother and father, had them shutting their mouths. “So seven weddings in six months...” Molly voice faded off mid sentence, it was like she was just trying to process the information, but couldn't. Hermione felt for the woman; five of those were her kids. Hermione now knew for sure that breakfast had been a bad idea. She was using almost all her strength to keep from vomiting on her slippers.  
“How can Hermione get married and still go to Hogwarts?” Ginny asked, looking at her rather green friend sitting next to her. Hermione hadn't even thought about that. She wouldn't be able to live in the dorms at Hogwarts and be married. It wouldn't be allowed, would it? As far as she knew that it had never happened before, but they couldn't just drop the almost the entire seventh year. Or could they? “Before anyone freaks out, we need to speak to Dumbledore.” Remus said slowly; almost like he wasn't sure if that would fix anything. He had been alone for so many years, he wasn't sure he could manage a marriage and his monthly transitions. He wouldn't want to put that on another person either.  
The group broke apart from the table; Molly, Arthur, and Remus moved to the family room, so that they could have a private “adult” only conversation. The rest of them went upstairs and met up in the twin's room. “So marriage...” Percy finally spoke up. “Yeah, we were all downstairs.” Ron replied sarcastically. “It must be easy for you to be so glib, you don't have to find a wife as soon as possible.” Percy said bitterly as he turned and left the room. “Who would even want to marry that?” Ron said as the door close. “Ron, you should just keep your mouth shut.” Bill was already done with all of this bickering. Ron looked around the room to see if anyone would have his back, but found everyone looking at the carpet or walls. “Well, what happens now?” Charlie questioned.  
“Remus, what will you do?” Molly worried about the room; fussing with pillows, candles,and really whatever she could. “We should be more worried about the kids. Hermione has been a target for years because of her close friendship with Harry. This must be a plot to either distract the Order or a full out attack on her.” Remus mused aloud. Molly looked horror struck. She hadn't even thought about it that way. “They would have had to known about her age and since all that is kept in the Ministries records that could be possible. But it's like Remus said to the kids, we will have to see what Dumbledore says about all this. No matter what, we will protect her. We will protect them all.” Molly wasn't sure she had ever heard Arthur speak so firmly.  
They all jumped when they heard the tiny tapping on the kitchen window. Molly was out of her seat first. There was an unknown owl there with a small piece of parchment around its leg. She opened the window and offered the owl some of the food that they keep at the window just for cases like this. The owl extended his leg to her and she unwrapped the parchment. Inside it was the headmaster's familiar writing “We know. Meeting at seven. You know where.” She went back to the other room “Dumbledore knows. They'll be here at seven.” 


	4. Chapter three

The small room started to fill up ten minutes before seven. Hermione knew everyone here, but she almost couldn't handle the panic that had been creeping up on her all day. The fire turned green at one minute til and Dumbledore stepped out. The crowd immediately became hushed. Dumbledore found a chair and began, “Well, we all should know why we are here. If you are not aware, I called this meeting because Voldemort was able to push a law through late last night that calls for all adult Muggleborns to be married an adult Pureblood within six months. There appears to be more conditions and requirements than that, but we will not know for sure until we see the full document. That will probably not happen until the first couple gets married, as they are supposed to sign and receive a copy of it as a part of their ceremony” Most people just nodded as he continued. “Sounds romantic.” She elbowed Ron next to her, but she had been thinking the same thing. She was glad he had been whispering it or otherwise Molly would have strung him up if she had heard him.  
“The issue we face now, is not only taking care of our group here, but also the children at Hogwarts.” Hermione was glad he was skipping right to the important matter. She needed to know what would happen to her when term started. “As most of you are aware, most of the seventh year is of age or will become of age soon and will be affected by the law. This means we are faced with the issue of housing married couples. Hogwarts has never had to handle an issue like this, as far as I am aware, but we will try our best to make the transition for married students as easy as possible. Thankfully, Hogwarts is a large school and we are not anywhere close to using all of her rooms. There is an unused section of staff rooms that were made junior professors or apprentices. They have been vacant for as long as I can remember, but are still in good condition as the house elves are always wonderful to remember what we may have forgotten. They are made very similar to the other houses, with a common room, but the bedrooms are private. We will be housing married students in these rooms after they are married.”  
“Shouldn't we be more concerned about stopping this madness?” Molly interjected. “Dear, I know that this seems like we are accepting this, but we are not. This is just a plan to keep our students safe while we try to fix the situation. If the law is to be appealed or removed entirely, we have to plan and honestly, we are too spread thin as it is. This will take time and we don't want to risk Azkaban for the children or anyone, who might think that it would be taken care of before the six month deadline. This means facing the issue head on.” Even though Dumbledore normally calmed her, Hermione shivered at the thought of that. She hadn't known about the Azkaban part until now. It seemed like it was news to most of the crowd.   
“What the bloody use of him if don't get his information before the it hits the public gossip highway?” Moody demanded pointing a gnarled finger at Severus. The crowd seemed to agree with Moody, but Hermione felt like Moody shouldn't even be talking about what people should know. He works at the Ministry and he didn't know about this mess either; obviously Voldemort kept it tight lipped. She was sure that Professor Snape would have something to say about that, but he didn't even look like he had heard the older man. He wasn't even looking at the Moody; he appeared to be lost in thought.   
“I will ask everyone to remain calm and polite or you will be asked to leave.” Dumbledore's voice was soft, but they all knew he could be very firm behind that velvet tone. “I ask all of those affected by the law to spend some time thinking over your personal plans for the future, but to contact me before you make any definite decisions. We have a few months to sort through some of this, but we will not be able to stop this before some of you have to get married. I will end this meeting here since there is so to be discussed among families. Hermione, please stay for a minute.”  
Hermione stomach flipped. She had never been asked to stay after class by a professor and even if this wasn't a class, Dumbledore was still the headmaster and she couldn't help but feel nervous about it. Harry and Ron both looked at her sympathetically before leaving the room. They probably would have asked to stay with her, but Molly was staring them down from the doorway. The room emptied out except for Dumbledore, Professor Snape, and Hermione.  
“Headmaster, what will I do? I am the only sixth year that is of age.” Hermione was almost whining at this point. She just wanted Dumbledore to tell her that she wasn't really seen as of age, since it was just the Time-Turner that aged her. She knew it didn't make any sense, but she just wanted him to make it better because isn't that what Dumbledore did? He constantly cleaned up their mistakes. “Hermione, I know this difficult, but I need to be calm. As calm as you can be right now.” Dumbledore seemed to be pleading with her. She looked at him and then to Professor Snape. They both looked tired, but Professor Snape looked weary. She wasn't sure that she had ever seen him look like this. He was still standing, but since he was closer to her now, she could see the dark circles under his eyes.  
“I'm trying, sir.” Hermione's voice was weak and she pretended she didn't hear her voice warble. “What I'm about to tell you is of the utmost importance and it cannot leave this room.” As to emphasize, Dumbledore cast a strong Muffliato, so that if anyone did wander back into the room they would not be able to hear what he was about to say. “Severus has received a mission from Voldemort. One would probably call it a loyalty test.” Hermione had no idea where this was going and why she needed to be here. Voldemort has always asked Professor Snape to do horrible things, but he only did because he had to, to keep his cover. His information was too valuable to give up because he had to do some tough stuff. War was nasty and she felt for him because she knew it had to weigh on him, even if he didn't let it show.  
Dumbledore gently continued “I know this will take some time for you to adjust to, but Voldemort has told Severus that he must marry you.” Hermione wasn't sure what happened, but she must have just had a stroke because Dumbledore did not just say what she thought she heard. “Sir, can you repeat that?” Hermione questioned him. “He said that the Dark Lord has ordered me to marry you.” Professor Snape's voice was kinder than she had ever heard. “But why would he do that? It doesn't even make sense.” The words just seemed to fall out of her mouth. “He's testing my loyalty and my abilities at convincing and controlling the Headmaster.” “But why me?” She had a feeling she knew, but she wanted to hear him say it. “Because you're one of Harry Potter's best friends and you're affected by the law. If it wasn't me, he would have sent someone else after you. You weren't going to make it through this law without marrying a Death Eater. He controls the Ministry and they have to approve all marriages; he wasn't going to let you, his prize, get away so easily.”  
Dumbledore watched the exchange between the two of them as he slowly disengaged from the conversation, so that they could discuss this by themselves. They would be married soon and it was better if they could get through this without him interjecting. He knew Hermione was technically an adult now, but he wasn't sure she really was until he saw how she was handling this. She had been upset before, but now that she knew it wasn't just her life on the line, she had become resolved. She was no longer a child and he was grateful that she wasn't because if she was to survive this war and this marriage law, she would have to be tough.  
When Severus came to him in the early hours, he was unsure of what they would do if Hermione couldn't face this. They would have to pull Severus as a spy because Tom wouldn't let him out of this alive, if he failed. The Order would have to find a place to hide Hermione, that was unmappable. She would have to quit Hogwarts, of course, and probably stop using magic unless they found a way that allowed her to but also that the Ministry couldn't track, but thankfully, it didn't look like it would come to that.  
Severus could feel Dumbledore distancing himself from conversation and he was grateful. Even though Dumbledore was aware of everything so far, Severus preferred to keep his private life as private as possible. Although now that would have to extend to another person. If he was honest with himself, he felt sorry for her; not that he didn't hate this for himself too. He didn't want to let yet another person in. He already had Dumbledore and the Dark Lord in his head constantly and now he would have to worry about a young girl.  
“So we have six months to prepare for this. That's plenty of time.” He had to admit she was taking this better than he had thought she would. He figured the thought of marrying the most awful professor would have her in tears, but he had underestimated her. He wondered if what he was about to tell her would be the thing to break her. “No, before term starts.” Severus looked down. If she started to cry, he didn't want be staring at her as she did so.  
Hermione tried to keep her tone eve, “So less than a week?” She knew it could be worse. Voldemort could have tried to give to any other Death Eater and they would have killed her instantly. At least, now Professor.. Severus would be able to prove himself and keep his position as a spy. Even though he has done bad things, even evil things, for Voldemort, he had also saved so many people; including herself a time or two. It was then that she knew that she wasn't dooming herself, if she was able to save him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made some changes to canon here and I just wanted to make sure that everyone one was aware.  
> 1\. Severus is a Pureblood in this story.  
> 2\. Hermione is about to start her sixth year, so that means that everything after the fifth book is not going to happen like it did in the books.  
> Lastly, if you want to ask me anything or follow my updates on when I will post a chapter, follow my Hermione ship tumbler at enchanting (dash) the (dash) bookworm .tumblr. com; I will tag all updates with “How to Be Together”.


	5. Chapter four

Hermione was still sleeping, when Molly decided that she had to wake her up. She walked into the room quietly as she could; it wouldn't be right to scare her awake. She sat down on the bed and the sleeping girl rolled toward the drooping side. Molly reached out and rubbed on Hermione's back; she use to wake all her kids this way. “What time is it?” Hermione spoke very groggily. “Oh, it must be half eleven.” Molly kept her voice low as to not startle her. Hermione sat up and looked around the room. “But it's still dark outside?” Hermione's confusion suddenly waking her up completely. “A simple spell on the windows. I thought you would need some more sleep than you normally get. I had to threaten Ron's life, at least once already; that boy has a hard time being quiet.” Molly smiled at Hermione; they both knew how bad Ron could be, but they both enjoyed him so.  
“That was very nice of you, Mrs. Weasley, but I should have been up hours ago. I have so much to plan.” Hermione said wearily, She would be getting married in just two days and now she only had half of today, Thursday, and all day Friday to plan for the Saturday wedding. It was getting to be too much. “Call me Molly. You will be married soon and as much as I hate it, you are an adult now. I need to treat you like one, but I knew you didn't sleep well last night.” Hermione raised an eyebrow at her. “I have my ways. Do you think I don't know what goes on in my own house?” Hermione had a hard time believing Molly knew about Ginny and Harry's extended make out sessions though. “Even those things special secret things, we both know Harry and Ginny keep from us.” Molly laughed at the look on Hermione's face. “I don't care. I figure that if we can get this Marriage law taken care of in time, they will be married when they're ready.” Hermione was seeing Molly in a different light; not just a mother figure, but as another woman. “It may not matter, Harry's a half blood and therefore; they should still be able to if they want to, I think. We'll know more once I'm married and have the whole damn document.”  
Hermione covered her mouth; she had spoken in angry. Molly laughed at her. “As I said, an adult. I don't like the damn thing either.” Hermione became noticeably more relaxed. Molly continued “I thought that maybe after you got ready, that I would leave the boys here and that the two of us and Ginny could go out and get a major chunk of wedding planning done.” Hermione felt a wave of relief hit her. She wasn't sure how she was going to get everything done, but she didn't want to force anyone to help her. She knew how most people felt about Severus, but so far everyone had been great and she didn't want to test how far that niceness would go. Last night, after the Order left and she had her talk with the headmaster and her soon to be husband, they sat down with the Weasley's and Harry to explain what they could. She had been worried what her two best friends would say about all this, but Harry had just held her hand and Ron had hugged her tightly to him. Later, Ron said that he had wished that there was another way because he knew how difficult this would be for her, but that he would do whatever he could to make it easier.  
“That would be wonderful.” Hermione beamed. “I'm glad that we can help, but before we go out, I would like to discuss something with you.” Molly was more serious now. “Are you going to be inviting your parents? I know it would take some working, but we might be able to get them here for the wedding Saturday.” Hermione had thought about this most of the night. She wanted them to be there, but she hadn't even been home since she was there for a few days in June, the summer before her fifth year. The war was picking up and she had told her parents that to keep them all safe that she would be staying with at the Weasley's. They hadn't liked it, but they thought they were protecting her. In reality, she was protecting them. She was never completely safe, so she placed as many protection spells as she could and promised to write them as much as she could.  
“No, I'll tell them later. I don't want to risk them for this, when I know that they won't approve or understand the situation.” Hermione  
Mumbled. Molly was quiet for a minute before saying “Hermione, I don't want to pry too much, but since your mother will not be here before the wedding, I just want to make sure you know about...” The older woman stopped, she seemed to be trouble finishing her sentence. “sex. I don't want to presume anything, but do need for me to have the talk with you? I gave it to my older boys, so it would be no problem.” Hermione giggled a little at Molly's discomfort. She had a feeling she was just nervous with her. She couldn't picture her acting like this with her own kids.  
“It's okay, Molly, that ship sailed a while back.” Hermione giggled again. “You and Ron? I always knew there was something more there...” Hermione flushed at that. “Oh God, no!” She stopped when she was the look on Molly's face. “Not that Ron is wonderful, but we were never serious like that. We figured out quickly that we are better as just friends.” Molly breathed a sigh of relief. Hermione continued “I was seeing someone else for a while, but we ended it before last Christmas. I spent some time with him last summer.” “How were you seeing anyone without us knowing? You were here. I'm not mad I'm just amazed that someone could keep a secret in this house.”  
“I was seeing Viktor Krum and I didn't want the boys to know because of how things went when he was at Hogwarts, so I didn't tell them.” Hermione was glad to finally tell someone other than Ginny. “Ginny knew about it and helped me keep my cover.” The older woman was looking at her funny, “How did you find time to get away to see him? I would have known if you left the house.” Molly questioned. “I didn't visit the girls from my year as many times as I let you think.” Hermione was a little embarrassed that this was all coming out now. “Honestly, I'm glad that you're not going into the this... let's say blind about all of that.” Molly sighed. “One last thing before I leave you to get ready, Severus left this with me last night.” Molly handed Hermione a bag, which looked like a small coin pouch and a letter and left the room.  
Hermione opened the bag first and it was filled with more galleons than looked possible; It was definitely spelled that way too. She opened the letter and found Severus neat handwriting:

Hermione,  
I know you will not want to accept this, so I am leaving in the care of Molly to give to later after I have left. I want you to use this money to buy what you want for the wedding.  
Severus

P.S- I left enough money for you to buy you at least one book, too. Please feel welcome to do so.

 

She dumped the bag out and using magic to move the coins around, she counted as quickly as she could. He had left her something like seven hundred galleons. Hermione had never held this much money before. She had a lot questions about him giving her this money, but mostly it came back to her wondering how much Dumbledore paid the professors. It didn't really matter though, she would find out soon enough. She put the coins back into the bag and got ready for the day.  
Once Hermione was downstairs, she found Molly and Ginny sitting at the kitchen table waiting for her. “Where did the boys go?” She questioned. “The twin recruited them to help at the shop today.” Ginny smiled brightly at Hermione. “They didn't want to go, but Mum made them.” “I didn't make them, but I told them they could go to the store or they could clean out the garden. They chose to help the twins.” Molly said, causing Hermione to laugh. Holding up her new coin pouch, Hermione said “I think lunch can be on me today.”  
At lunch, they had discussed all their plans for the next two days. They decided that she needed to get a wedding dress, shoes, underwear, and a ring for Severus. Ginny had tried to talk her into getting some jewelry for herself, but Hermione just wasn't the type to wear any. After they ate themselves full, they flooed over to one of the nicest stores Hermione had ever been to. The one of the ladies who worked in the store, walked over to them, “Can I have a name?” Hermione was confused for a second, she didn't think about making an appointment anywhere. Molly spoke up for her, “Hermione Granger”. The lady walked over to book on the counter and both Ginny and Hermione looked back at Molly. “Severus told me to come here. He said he would take care of the appointment.” She answered their questioning looks.  
The lady must have found what she was looking for because she made her way back to them. “Yes, my name is Patrica, and which one of you is Ms. Granger?” Hermione stepped forward. “Your fiancee made your appointment and told us to take great care of you, such a lovely man.” Ginny made a funny face at Hermione when Patrica had turned her back. Molly saw it though and thumped her daughter on the back before letting out a small giggle too.  
Patrica lead them back to a dressing room, “This will be your dressing room today. I will be helping you find your dress. What are you looking for?” Patrica was all smiles. “Well, I don't really know what I want. This is sort of the last minute.” Hermione explained. “How romantic!” Patrica was either oblivious to the marriage law or she didn't want to act like she knew, either way it must be a good time for business. “Can I ask a price range? This will help me narrow down the inventory.” “300 galleons” Hermione replied. “I will make a few selections and I will be back. Make yourselves comfortable.” and with that Patrica left them alone.  
“300 galleons?” Ginny puzzled. “Severus gave me some money for the wedding.” Hermione didn't want to say much more about and thankfully Ginny left it at that. Before they had time to really think about anything else, Patrica was back with two arms full of dresses. After trying on so many duds that Hermione thought she would have to walk down the aisle in her Hogwarts uniform or dig out the dress she wore to the Yule Ball, they found one more dress to put her in. The minute Patrica was done zipping it up, Hermione knew it was the perfect dress. It was a knee length pure white dress that had tons of underskirt material that made it kind of resembled a bell. The dress had little cap sleeves and was A line with a high neck, there was no denying that the dress was totally Hermione.  


End file.
